ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Thieves steal ATM machine, but it falls out of getaway van

LYNNWOOD, Wash.

Snohomish County authorities say two thieves suspected of stealing an ATM machine from a business made it as far as the parking lot, but the machine fell out of the getaway van.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said Monday that deputies have recovered the ATM machine.

They believe two men backed up a white van to a business near Lynnwood at around 11 a.m. Sunday, cut the cables to the ATM and loaded it in to the van.

Deputies believe the machine fell out of the van when the men drove too fast over a speed bump.

The suspects drove away without it.

Deputies found the van idling Monday morning. It had been reported stolen from Kent. The van was impounded so deputies could look for evidence.

Costly Spanish ‘ghost airport’ gets one meager bid at auction

MADRID

One of Spain’s “ghost airports” – expensive projects that were virtually unused – received just one bid in a bankruptcy auction after costing some 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to build. The buyer’s offer: 10,000 euros.

Ciudad Real’s Central airport, about 150 miles south of Madrid, became a symbol of the country’s wasteful spending during a construction boom that ended with the financial crisis of 2008, the year the airport opened.

The operator of the airport went bankrupt in 2012 after it failed to draw enough traffic.

Chinese group Tzaneen International tabled the single bid in Friday’s auction, Spanish news agency Europa Press said.

The receiver had set a minimum price of 28 million euros.

If no better bid is received by September, the sale will go through, the news agency said.

Tzaneen International reportedly plans to invest up to 100 million euros in the airport and make it a cargo hub. The offer is for the airport infrastructure only, not adjacent land.

Central has one of Europe’s longest runways and was designed to handle 2.5 million passengers a year.

The construction was heavily funded by the Caja Castilla La Mancha savings bank – the first of Spain’s troubled savings banks to be bailed out, in 2010.

Another largely unused airport and symbol of wasteful spending is Castellon, on Spain’s eastern coast.

It cost around 150 million euros and opened in 2011.

Associated Press